DHS Secretary Mayorkas: Migrants Must Not Come to U.S. — By Sea

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told foreign nationals that they must not attempt to illegally enter the United States by sea but did not urge them to stop illegally crossing the United States-Mexico border.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Mayorkas said, “Any migrant intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter” the U.S., though he made no equivalent message to foreign nationals looking to enter the U.S. through the southern border as the overwhelming majority do.

“The time is never right to attempt migration by sea,” Mayorkas said, directing the remarks to Haitians and Cubans. “To those who risk their lives doing so, this risk is not worth taking. Allow me to be clear, if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States.”

“Again, I repeat, do not risk your life attempting to enter the United States illegally,” Mayorkas told foreign nationals weighing whether to illegally enter the U.S. by sea. “You will not come to the United States.”

Foreign nationals who are apprehended at sea, Mayorkas said, will be immediately sent back to their native countries. For those claiming fear of persecution, Mayorkas said DHS officials will refer them to third countries to seek asylum.

“They will not enter the United States,” Mayorkas said.

Haitians and Cubans have increasingly been arriving in the U.S. through the southern border, as Breitbart News has chronicled. In May, Breitbart News exclusively reported how President Joe Biden’s administration was flying Cuban adults into major U.S. cities after they arrived at the border.

Similarly, Haitians are being flown into the U.S. interior by the administration as American towns along the border are being forced to absorb them. In many cases, Haitians are being bused into American towns after they’ve crossed the border.

While implementing third-safe country standards for foreign nationals apprehended at sea, the Biden administration ended former President Trump’s third-safe country agreements with Central America that allowed DHS officials to immediately return border crossers to countries they had passed through but which have robust asylum processes.

The elimination of the asylum agreements is part of the administration’s expansive Catch and Release operation where border crossers are apprehended, briefly detained, and then sent on buses or domestic commercial flights into the U.S. interior.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.